Help - "Traffic Violation" in Italy

leviathan

You could try telling the CC that you dispute the charge and that you never authorised it, however when you signed the T&C for the car hire agreement it probably said something about you accepting the charges for any fines for speeding etc.

IMHO I'd raise a dispute with the CC and see where it goes from there. What will probably happen is they'll disagree and make you pay it.

Put it down to experience and try not to use a CC abroad next time.


Some people in this thread obviously destined for sainthood with their comments. :rolleyes:
Hardly money saving not to try and get out of it

Conor_3

thescouselander wrote: »

is there any way to get out of payng."

No, it's Italy and like most of the rest of Europe, they don't let people get off with the "pepipoo" get outs.

thescouselander

terryya wrote: »

Answer - No, if you've done the crime you should pay the fine.

Well thanks, I hope the same thing happens to you one day.

thescouselander

leviathan wrote: »

You could try telling the CC that you dispute the charge and that you never authorised it, however when you signed the T&C for the car hire agreement it probably said something about you accepting the charges for any fines for speeding etc.

IMHO I'd raise a dispute with the CC and see where it goes from there. What will probably happen is they'll disagree and make you pay it.

Put it down to experience and try not to use a CC abroad next time.


Some people in this thread obviously destined for sainthood with their comments. :rolleyes:
Hardly money saving not to try and get out of it

I havent actually paid the fine yet, only the Admistration charge for the hire car company giving the police my details. This in itself is very steep but I dont think I will be able to get this back (40 euros for 5 mins work!!!). Obviously a nice little earner for hire car companies.

TiTheRev

leviathan wrote: »

Some people in this thread obviously destined for sainthood with their comments. :rolleyes:
Hardly money saving not to try and get out of it

...hardly ethical or honest either :rolleyes: :A

thescouselander

TiTheRev wrote: »

...hardly ethical or honest either :rolleyes: :A

I think ethics an honesty went out the window when the Italians set up their restricted traffic zone and "forgot" to put signes up.

If I had done wrong and it had been a fair cop I would just pay up. But as it happened I had no chance of even knowing I was at fault.

TiTheRev

...unless you'd read this before going! Don't get me wrong, i'd be annoyed too, but it's happened and you need to just pay up and learn for next time! It cant be more than £20-30 surely?

thescouselander

TiTheRev wrote: »

...unless you'd read this before going! Don't get me wrong, i'd be annoyed too, but it's happened and you need to just pay up and learn for next time! It cant be more than £20-30 surely?

Its not cheap, from what I have read elsewhere its something like 113 Euros but I'm not sure. Anyway, there will not be a next time, I have vowed never to return - this wasn't the only time we were ripped off.

Wig

As I found out recently hiring a car without CC is getting to be very difficult these days. If I had to hire a car I would search high and low to find a hirer that accepted cash to hire the car. If that meant hiring a banger from Alfredo's garage, that's what I would do.


OP probably signed some contract that allowed this excessive admin charge so unlikely to be able to get that back not least because it is in a foriegn land.

As the the charge from the Italian government, No I don't know how much it will be. If they take it from the hire company and they inturn take it from you, then you have lost it.

Maybe the E40 already includes the city fine.

In the event you get a letter from the Italian department. I don't think you have to pay, they cannot enforce the fine in the UK courts so as long as you don't go back to Italy any time soon, I would forget about it.

However as per the information on that linked to page, check your contract about the hire company paying the fine on your behalf, and if necessary phone them up and ask them if there are any circumstances where they would pay the fine and pass on the costs to you through the card.

moonrakerz

thescouselander wrote: »

I went on a fly-drive holiday to Italy back in may. Just recently I had my credit card charged by the hire car company because they had to supply my details to the local police for some sort of "traffic violation" which was not specified.

I was very careful to stick to the speed limits over there so I dont think it was for speeding. After doing a bit of research on the internet I think its possible that I might of accidently driven into a restricted traffic zone in Pisa. These zones are by no means obvious and I dont recall seeing any signs or anything. Apparently it is very common for tourists to be caught out by this.

Anyway, my question is has anyone else been caught out by this? What happens now, how much is it likely to cost me and is there any way to get out of payng.

I feel the Italian authorities have been very underhand here and have deliberatly set out to trap tourists. Also, to leave things so long before persuing the issue is quite unreasonable - I cant really remember exactly what happened on the day in question.

Any advice would be much appreciated.

There was a story on Radio 4 the other day about this sort of thing. It has taken off as a great source of revenue in Italy apparently - Pisa was mentioned in the story several times.
The bottom line is that somewhere in the yards of small print, that you "agreed to", there will be something about traffic violations. The hire company will pay the fine, add an admin fee and stick it on your card - and there 'aint much you can do about it.
This seems to be the Italian version of the French motor cycle cops waiting on the outskirts of Calais with their "on the spot fines" at the ready.

Take your custom elsewhere, Spain, Portugal etc, etc.- and ignore the infantile comments that some people think it is clever to post on this site nowadays !